


The System is Broken (So It'll Break You)

by DivineBlackDragon



Series: The System is Broken (A Naruto Fanfiction Series) [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) Feels, Depressing, Gen, Might have a fluffy AU-verse where someone actually does something somewhere else in the series..., One Shot, Sad, Team 7 fic, Which was a complete accident and not intended, Wow, all generations of team 7, it started writing itself towards the end, just a small, no I’m serious, so deep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-19 15:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13707228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineBlackDragon/pseuds/DivineBlackDragon
Summary: Divided we fall.One...By...One.(Konoha can tear you down or build you up so high you’ll die if you slip and fall.)An angst-filled one-shot of the many generations of Team 7.





	The System is Broken (So It'll Break You)

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: The Whispers of Dai-nana-han.

It starts with the first team 7.

The first team to have shinobi from different backgrounds, different clans, all together and trained under the second Hokage himself. It is also the only team to have more than three students, due to the fact that three of the students were once the Shodaime’s, before falling under the command of the Nidaime with the First Hokage’s death.

Whispers follow them like ghosts, whispers of _Senju_ and _Uchiha_ and the _betrayal of Kagami, deciding to study under a Senju, of all people._ There are whispers of praise towards the Nidaime’s prize student, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and whispers of awed fear following in Danzo’s wake, murmuring of the always watching, vigilant shadow of Hiruzen. There are whispers of scorn towards the others, because those other students— _the two civilian-born, Mitokada and Utatane, right? Yeah. Them. They’re useless. Tie Sarutobi-sama down_ —well, they aren’t quite as good. There’s an Akimichi on the two teams, too. But no one speaks of him. _He’s just another clan shinobi._

 

The effect?

 

Uchiha Kagami is as good as an outcast, and dies with only his teammates by his side. His daughter and other members of his family avoid him, if only to further distance themselves from his bad reputation.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, seeing only the praise of Konoha, is blinded to the fear aimed at his ruthless shadow, and Shimura Danzo only becomes colder in response.

The useless ones, Utatane Koharu and Mitokada Homura, are bitter and resentful, and listen only to the one who also understood whispers: Shimura Danzo.

Akimichi Torifu doesn’t mind not being known, as he fades into obscurity with his name only briefly mentioned in history books, but retires and lives happily with his family despite the lack of acknowledgement or respect. He is the only one to escape unscathed.

 

And that is the end of the first Dai-Nana-Han.

 

* * *

  

The whispers continue with the next generation. The Sandaime Hokage’s students.

The first one’s a girl.

 _A spoiled, rich girl, granddaughter of the Shodaime. She’s probably only good as housewife material,_ say the whispers.

The second one’s an orphan.

 _An orphan,_ say the whispers in horrified indignation, _the Sandaime Hokage, teaching an orphan? A waste, I tell you. And did you hear about his disgusting and immature behavior? He’s a disgrace, a blemish on Konoha._

The third student is a prodigy, the last of a once prestigious clan.

 _He’s fearless,_ they whisper, _and will do anything in the name of Konoha. The epitome of an emotionless shinobi._ The more ignorant whisper of his snake-like eyes, tongue, lisp and paper-white skin. _Creepy, disgusting, a monster,_ say the civilians, _avoid him, he’s dangerous._

 

The effect is an insecure, loudmouth boy who acts out even more than before, refusing to show weakness.

The whispers change a lonely, hopeful orphan into a loudmouth, perverted boy who just wants to be seen as useful and worth something to someone.

The effect is a defensive girl with pent up rage and hurt expressing itself through her fists and a refusal to let anyone or anything overpower or control her.

The whispers create a young, lonely girl who just desperately wanted to hold onto what family she had left just one more day.

The effect is an isolated young orphaned prodigy that knows not what is deemed “right” or “wrong” and only that knowledge is power and power is everything because power is what lets you keep on surviving to fight another day in a war that goes on for far too long.

The whispers make a cold, talented shinobi obsessed with only living to continue to fight another day and a refusal to open up his heart because of one to many misunderstandings and whispers. Danzo, one who understands such harsh, cruel and fearful awed whispers, knows exactly how to draw the little Hebi clan prodigy into his grasp.

 

And slowly the team falls apart, the first hiding his loneliness and insecurities through bad habits and acting the fool, never staying in the hated village. The second tries and tries but they all die anyway and suddenly it’s all just too much and she leaves her once home behind her. The third disappears into labs in a hungry quest fueled by a subconscious and basic desire to just not die. He dances without care to the tune of Shimura Danzo, only wanting knowledge and power, and not caring who gave it to him.

 

And so the end of the next Dai-nana-han comes.

 

* * *

 

The third Dai-nana-han ends with two students dead and fading into obscurity and one that will grow to become the legendary Yellow Flash and Fourth Hokage. This generation is the least affected by the whispers, though its luck is no better, for none on this team survives for very long.

 

* * *

  

The fourth generation of Dai-nana-han has whispers and rumors follow them even before it is fully formed. At first it is in awe, for the little Hatake, Konoha’s youngest prodigy and son of the White Fang is already in an apprenticeship. There are a few doubts of the newly jounin-sensei’s credibility, but they do not have time to spread, for the Third Shinobi War starts with one failed mission and suddenly there is fresh blood in the water, coming from a vulnerable White Fang.

And so one war hero is ripped to shreds, _along with his probably just as horrible and future failure of a son, of course._

 The effect is a scarred prodigy shinobi orphan who acts more like a machine, a tool, than a human.

And then the war worsens and suddenly the new pride of Konoha is the Yellow Flash, and all the whispers can say is: _The White Fang’s son? You mean he’s the Yellow Flash’s student? How shameful. The Yellow Flash shouldn’t be wasting time teaching the failure’s son. The brat is holding the man back. The Yellow Flash doesn’t have time for babysitting._

And the words hit a little boy’s heart so very deeply because it’s _true_. He’s holding Minato-sensei back and preventing him from ending the war.

The whispers get worse. They become so bad that Minato-sensei is forced to take on another two students, and become a full jounin-sensei instead of just a master in an apprenticeship.

Kakashi knows it’s his fault. Without the whispers, the Hokage and his Council would never have assigned two more students to his sensei. Two new genin would only hold Minato-sensei back even more. He simultaneously hates himself and his teammates for it.

The two new teammates on the newly established third generation of Dai-nana-han arrive with other whispers following them.

_The greatest failure of the Uchiha, another useless future civilian housewife trying to be a shinobi, and the White Fang’s son all on the same team._

_What was the Hokage thinking?_ gasp the voices, _Three future failures? As students of the Yellow Flash? At this rate the war will never end._

The whispers create one of the most broken little prodigies in the history of Konoha. One who’s mental health will cause even the Yamanakas to shake their heads in pity because there is just nothing they can do.

 

The whispers will create an entire war, an enemy so very great it unites all the Elemental Nations.

It creates one of the strongest shinobi out of the weakest and most empathic of the Uchiha—Kagami’s descendent, a few whisper, because even now the stigma attached to that name is great.

 

The whispers do not affect the last teammate, however, the little civilian-born medic, though they are almost just as cruel to her. She is the one to unflinchingly sacrifice herself for the future of Konoha.

 

It doesn’t matter though, because it is her actions (and Obito’s eye) that further torture the last student of the fourth Dai-nana-han.

The whispers follow the _friend-killer_ , the _Sharingan-stealer_ , the _son of the disgraced_ , the last member of this generation’s Team 7, straight into ANBU, and Danzo spies another he can lure into his grasp. But he waits, for the boy is still too loyal to his sensei for the Councilman to take the new ANBU under his wing just yet.

And then the Kyuubi is unleashed and it all ends with the sensei of the fourth generation’s Dai-nana-han dead.

The last member of that team falls straight into the hands of Danzo. His future will consist of only more hurt and little retribution for it. Eventually, he will be dragged out from the shadows to teach the last Team 7, But for now he will drown in the blood of others and his own emotions.

 

And the fourth Dai-nana-han is gone.

 

* * *

  

The fifth Dai-nana-han is perhaps the most complicated.

Whispers followed all three little future members of Team 7 from a young age.

The first, a little boy named Naruto, heard only words like _monster, abomination, demon,_ and others spoken with hatred, fear, or apathy. The whispers speak of _contamination, killer of the Fourth,_ and _the destroyer of the village_.

The second member, Haruno Sakura, is teased and bullied and also whispered about. After all, she looks nothing like either of her parents, and _one of them must have cheated, she must be a child of a cheap prostitute, what with that hair—_

The little girl, hoping to become strong enough to make the whispers stop, attends the academy for shinobi against her parents’ wishes, and only causing tension in her own home and leaving a once close relationship in tatters.

 

Small Sasuke, on the other hand, is a little more complex. He is lucky to not notice the whispers before the Massacre.

 The whispers of _Uchiha_ and _Kyuubi_ and _Guilty._

 His clan does though. And in the end, it all affects Sasuke. After the massacre, Sasuke first notices the stares. 

Pity first.

 

 And then—

 

 Fear sometimes.

Awe last.

 

He hates the stares.

When he sees the stares, he begins to notice the whispers, too.  _That poor boy_ , say the ones with pity in their gaze.  _He's at the top of his class, Rookie of the Year. Talented but cold and with an obsession for revenge. Maybe—_

 

 _maybe he'll turn out just like his brother_ , say the jaded ones.

 

_Sasuke-kun's so amazing! He's the last Uchiha!_

_The **Last** Uchiha_...

...Is murmured in awe-filled tones.

 

Sasuke hears the whispers...

 ...And hates.

 

When this Dai-nana-han is put together, the whispers are at their strongest.

 

_Hatake Kakashi? As a sensei?! The sensei to the Jinchuuriki, Last Uchiha, and poor civilian child? He'll probably snap and kill them all! And the Hokage will probably let the friend-killer get away with it, even!_

 

(Hatake Kakashi hears the whispers, and cannot help but believe them. It has been years since the broken shinobi has been able to defend himself against the words. How can he teach his precious students the ways of the _killer_? How can he possibly teach such innocent children to be _just like him?_ And, knowing him, he’ll probably get the three genin all killed in a training accident anyway.)

 

_The demon child as a shinobi? Are they trying to make him more dangerous?! He'll snap and kill us all! The demon would be much better off dead, really. Why hasn't the Hokage put it down yet?_

(Naruto hears the whispers too, but ignores them just as much as ever. He’s done it for so long, what’s a few more whispers?)

_Ah, yes, the Last Uchiha. Poor boy. Being put on that team will probably hold him back. Or perhaps it does fit; if the boy's anything like Itachi he'll fit right in._

(Sasuke hears,  _hates_.)

_Oh. Another little civilian girl unfit for shinobi life? She'll hold her teammates back. Not to mention with that hair of hers...She'd be better off as a housewife, really, except for her unfortunate possible parentage. I've heard she's a bastard child..._

(Sakura cries as the whispers tear her down.)

 

But then the Team splits, and Uchiha Sasuke leaves the village, free and unburdened by the knowledge of the whispers, though they are as vicious about that _horrid traitor_ ( _just like Itachi_ ) as ever.

Naruto leaves too, though the murmurs are now beginning to change into something akin to idolization for the child that _stopped the Ichibi._

 

Once more, the sensei of Team 7 is caught under fire, alone except for his last student, who is just as mocked and tortured through words sharp as knives.

_Why didn't the Uchiha's sensei see it coming? He even taught that boy the Chidori! What was that jounin thinking? See, the Uzumaki obviously knew that Team 7's sensei was no good. The poor neglected thing had to go find a new teacher--one of the Sannin! It's a good thing he did, too. Hatake Kakashi could never have taught that boy right. It's thanks to Jiraiya-sama that he defeated the Ichibi, after all._

_What about the last student? Oh, that pink-haired girl. Did you see how she performed in the exams? Disgraceful. She's possibly one of the most useless kunoichi to exist._

The girl and sensei are both hurting. Both make a mutual decision that because obviously the other doesn't want them around, and together decide that Team 7 is officially dissolved.

Sharingan-no-Kakashi returns to ANBU with more guilt and shame and sadness than ever before.

Haruno Sakura searches desperately for a new teacher, a new-found determination overcoming her to never be useless ever again. But how can she do so when none are willing to help the kunoichi that performed so poorly in the exams?

 

And so years pass.

 

Whispers change.

 

Naruto, a boy starved of positive attention, is placed on a pedestal as high as the Fourth Hokage.

 

A recipe for disaster.

 

Sakura, an insecure girl who struggles to matter, becomes a medic-nin as strong as Tsunade. So she is placed on a pedestal almost as high as Naruto’s.

 

Another inevitable catastrophe.

 

Sasuke, hated by the village he abandoned, will never be able to redeem himself in the eyes of his former home.

 

He'll never be happy for the rest of his life.

 

But then, that was already a given.

 

Kakashi is forgotten, disappearing behind the mask of the Hound, for the moment.

 

It won't last long.

 

 

When the Fourth Shinobi War is over, the consequences of these reputations appear.

 

Because with reputations, come image and expectations.

 

Naruto, frantic to never lose the validation and appreciation he'd striven for all his life, is crushed under the weight of who others want him to be, and changes not necessarily for the better.

Sakura, also unable to positively cope with the idolization and expectation, also conforms to others wishes, to become the perfect and dedicated housewife, and is doomed to live unhappily for the rest of her life.

Sasuke will never able to truly feel comfortable in his once-home, despite his team’s efforts otherwise.

Kakashi has simply given up on this pathetic village that decided to make him Hokage. He’s pretty sure he’ll probably just disappoint everyone in the end. Ironically, it is this capitulation towards himself and the village that allows him to act as he always does, instead of listening to the whispers' whims.

 

This is the end of the fifth Dai-nana-han, permanently scarred and doomed from the start.

 

* * *

 

 

 The most recent generation is already set up for a crushing defeat.

 

The _Seventh Hokage's prodigy son_ is the first member.

 _Orochimaru's creation_ is the second.

The _Uchiha-Haruno girl_ is the third.

 

We all know how this will turn out, don't we?

The village is turned against them from the start, and divided, Dai-nana-han will fall.

 

But...

 

Where do the whispers come from?

 

(Isn't it ironic...)

 

It's not the people.

It's the system.

It is the Will of Fire that destroys Dai-nana-han.

And will continue to do so until the shinobi age comes to an end.

 

 

(Isn't it ironic that the very ideal Dai-nana-han has always fought for, is the one that causes their destruction?)

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ooh, I was just about crying at some parts as I wrote this.  
> If you can't tell, I love Team 7.
> 
> This was very deep too, I think.  
> Can't believe this is a fanfiction based off of a shounen manga targeted towards 10 year olds, sometimes.
> 
> Please let me know what you think in the comments!  
> (You have no idea how badly I wanted to make this canon-divergent halfway through...)


End file.
